This invention relates to electrical connector apparatus useful for interconnecting test equipment to an electrical assembly such as a printed wiring board or a backplane.
The invention resolves the problem of the high force heretofore required to connect an electrical assembly to a test fixture. An electrical assembly such as a printed wiring board or a backplane typically has a large number of contacts. The conventional practice is to force these contacts into engagement with mating interference contacts of the test equipment. This, however, requires a high force, and a correspondingly high force usually is required to disconnect the assembly after the test. These high forces are cumbersome to apply. Moreover, the forces subject the equipment and particularly the assembly under test to potentially damaging stresses. This is because the forces are directed in the direction in which a circuit board or a backplane has relatively little strength, i.e. in the direction transverse to the lateral dimensions of these structures.
The prior art expedient of separating the contacts of the test equipment into several separate connectors, each of which requires only a fraction of the total force for engagement, is disadvantageous because each connector must be wired to the test equipment by a cable. A further drawback is that hooking up the several connectors prior to the test, and disconnecting them afterwards, unduly increases the time and hence the cost required for a test.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide an electrical test contact than can be connected with, and disconnected from, an assembly under test with relatively small applied force.
Another object of the invention is to provide an electrical interconnecting fixture to which a multi-contact electrical assembly can be connected, and from which it can be disconnected, without subjecting the assembly to undue stress.
It is also an object of the invention to provide apparatus of the above character that can be fabricated at relatively low cost.
Other objects of the invention will appear hereinafter.